a term typically used by medical practitioners to describe the genitals of intersex infants whose genitalia do not appear as ‘typically’ either male or female. Such an example would be genitalia that are not “completely developed”, or display characteristics of both male and female anatomies. Considered a “disorder of sex development” in medical terminology.

People with “ambiguous genitalia” may have other intersex variations that aren’t immediately apparent; similarly, those without “ambiguous genitalia” may possess other intersex variations.

A pressing human rights issue in this regard is so-called “corrective surgery” which seeks to cosmetically alter an infant’s genitalia or physical anatomy without their consent to “normalise” their intersex variations.

“Ambiguous genitalia”, like “disorder of sex development”, are terms that are considered problematic and rejected by many intersex people.

a slang term for a woman that a gay man marries or has a relationship with in order to hide his homosexuality.

The term can be problematic when used to describe relationships in which the male participant is presumed to be exclusively gay, when in fact, he could be bisexual+.

a pejorative slang term for men who have sex with men, but, by connotation, extended to all Queer people. However, the term has been reclaimed, somewhat successfully, particularly by gay men.

Related: bent.

a slang term, generally considered problematic and a slur when used by non-Queer people, to describe Queer people, particularly men who have sex with men. The opposite to ‘bent’ is straight, the common-use term for heterosexual.

Related: bender.

an alternative to faux king – that is, a cisgender male drag king, except far more problematic as it carries connotations that transgender female-to-male individuals aren’t really ‘male’.

an alternative to faux queen – that is, a cisgender female drag queen, except far more problematic as it carries connotations that transgender male-to-female individuals aren’t really ‘male’.

a Queer slang term for a heterosexual. Considered problematic.

Queer slang for a butch or masculine woman, typically one who is lesbian.

medical terminology for the wide variety of intersex variations, although the terminology is fast becoming questioned and debated as inappropriate, particularly as it may suggest something that needs ‘correcting’ (such as through corrective surgery).

a slang term for lesbian (and by connotation, anyone perceived to be one – including bisexual+ women), and commonly a particularly masculine or butch one. Although originally, and still often used in a derogatory manner, it has been reclaimed by many lesbians and sapphic women as a positive term; for example, the lesbian motorcycle group Dykes on Bikes, and various Dyke Marches that take place during Pride events.

another term for targeted violence against members of the Queer community.

Related: Queer bashing; gay bashing.

an old antigay slur against (particularly, not exclusively) effeminate gay and bisexual men. It has, however, been reclaimed by many in the Queer community, and it isn’t uncommon to see people dressed as fairies at Pride parades.

A Drag King that is a cisgender person assigned male at birth.

The term has been dismissed as irrelevant and problematic by many in the drag community, and should be used with caution, particularly when terms like bio king or male king are used, as it implies that a female-to-male drag king’s male identity is not really ‘male’.

Despite this, many performers adopt and relish the faux identity.

A Drag Queen who is also a cisgender person assigned female at birth.

The term has been dismissed as irrelevant and problematic by many in the drag community, and should be used with caution, particularly when terms like bio queen or female queen are used, as it implies that a male-to-female drag queen’s female identity is not really ‘female’.

A particular example of this controversy is present with RuPaul’s Drag Race, where neither trans women or cisgender women are invited to participate, as they are considered “faux queens” rather than “drag queens”.

Despite this, many performers adopt and relish the faux identity.

a problematic term referring to a faux queen: that is, an assigned-female-at-birth individual who is a drag queen.

See also: bio queen.

a derogatory slur for homosexuals chiefly used in the United States of America that shares its meaning and origin with the highly-divisive term faggot used against effeminate men. However, the term has also been reclaimed; and is used by flamboyant, out-and-proud effeminate men. Also used as flaming (e.g. a flaming gay).

a term describing effeminate, gay men – related to flamer. By extension, this has become a term describing out-and-proud, flamboyant men who have sex with men.

Originally a pejorative slur, it has also been reclaimed by those it seeked to demonise.

used chiefly in America to describe effeminate men, either by calling them “a fruit”, or describing them as fruity.

a predominantly North American slang term for effeminate men, particularly those who are men that have sex with men.

Related: fruit

an outdated term for an individual who has an intersex variation, typically someone born with the physical characteristics of both men and women, specifically in relation to the genitals and breasts.

In reproductive biology, hermaphrodite is used to describe fauna and flora that has both kinds of reproductive organs, and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes – such as those which do not have separate sexes.

a recognised third-gender on the Indian subcontinent, comprised of people who are either eunucs, intersex or transgender. The Hijra go by many other names depending on the language, with a well-documented history.

Many Hijra face discrimination, and during the time of the British Raj (when the Indian subcontinent was colonialised by the British), many Hijra faced persecution and prosecution.

Hijra, as a term, is sometimes rejected by the people it describes in favour of other terms – but nonetheless, it is a cultural term that shouldn’t be applied to, or used by, people outside of that culture.

an abbreviation of homosexual, referring to people who have sex with people of the same gender – as a result, bisexuals may also be referred to as a “homo“.

The term is problematic due to the term having been used in a pejorative sense against the gay community; however, the term has been reclaimed to some extent and is in use in common Queer parlance.

an alternate term to homosexual or gay that rose to prominence in the early start of the gay rights movement – used as preferred term as homosexual was deemed as too clinical, with connotations of being a psychiatric disorder.

However, it fell out of favour by the early 1970s, when gay, lesbian and bisexual became preferred terminology.

It is seldom used now in the English-speaking word (particularly due to the “phile” having connotations related to words such as paedophile), but in some other languages it continues to be the dominant term.

short for lesbian, it has been used pejoratively in the past but has also been embraced by lesbians in much the same way dyke has. When used prejoratively, it is often applied to any sapphic  woman, or someone who is perceived to be a sapphic woman.

a problematic term referring to a faux king: that is, a drag king assigned-male-at-birth.

See also: bio king.

a phrase used by – predominantly – heterosexual men who make a comment that could be interpreted as being homoerotic or homoromantic, typically to assert their masculinity or heterosexuality.

This could simply be for something as innocent and small as one man complimenting another; for example, “Dude, you look great tonight, no homo”.

The term and the concept behind it is problematic: firstly, it is perhaps an example of toxic masculinity, in which men have to constantly remind each other that they are straight, and that something as simple as a compliment may call their heterosexuality into question. Secondly, it asserts a certain homophobic or biphobic attitude that being seen as same-sex attracted is something to be ashamed of.

A term used to describe a transgender individual who manages to “pass” as their gender identity; that is, a trans woman who manages to “pass” as a cisgender woman, or a trans man who manages to “pass” as a cisgender man.

However, the use of the term is problematic; particularly as it suggests that a trans person’s worth is dependent on how other people perceive them, based solely on how they look or act.

An individual’s preference in the types of sexual intercourse, stimulation and gratification that they like to receive or participate in; often mistakenly conflated with sexual orientation. A problematic term in regards to Queer sexuality as it may suggest it is a choice (preference).

an individual who is primarily or exclusively attracted to nonbinary and/or transgender individuals – essentially, an attraction to individuals who are not cisgender, although not necessarily all gender identities.

However, the term may be considered problematic as the term comes from the Greek for “crooked” or “curved”, suggesting non-cisgender people are broken; whilst others too have pointed out it may ‘other’ Trans men and women as not being true men and women.

Further, some have argued that the label may suggest a fetish, rather than an attraction – although this has also been disputed by non-cisgender individuals too.

For example, a skoliosexual person may be solely or primarily attracted to genderqueer individuals in much the same way gay men are attracted to other gay men.

a term for a gay man or anyone suspected of practising sodomy – which extends to any form of sex that isn’t vaginal between a man and a woman; however, typically, it was only men who had sex with other men that were prosecuted under sodomy laws.

an archaic term for gay men, although it has, in recent years, faced a resurgence as a gender-specific word for homosexuality, comparable to lesbian.

It was first used by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs in his collected booklets, Forschungen über das Räthsel der mannmännlichen Liebe (The Riddle of Man–Manly Love) – 1864-1865.

However, the term also gained traction in paederastic (that is, relating to relationships between adult men and pubescent or adolescent boys) poetry from the 1870s to the 1930, which became known as Uranian poetry, although this was, by no means, the intention of the author (although he did recognise the existence of paederastic men). As such, the term may has certain connotations which are problematic in general use, and as such, the term Vincian may be preferred.

The term emerges in reference to Aphrodite Urania, the Greek Goddess born of Uranus, with the connotation of gay men being ‘men with female psyches’. As such, it was applied also to effeminate men and transfeminine people attracted to men.